Sick of the Raptors being mocked for being “different” than American teams, for not having “the good cable,” for bad weather, for living in igloos and for using different coloured money?

Well, so is the franchise. GM Masai Ujiri has constantly railed about the lack of validity in “all that B.S. that people say about Toronto.”

But, instead of dwelling on the negativity, the franchise has opted to embrace its unique position and identity.

To that end, a new campaign was unveiled Wednesday celebrating the Raptors as — to borrow a phrase from the wildly popular Game of Thrones TV series — ‘Kings in the North.’ Only with this campaign, Canada’s lone franchise is being celebrated as: ‘We The North.’

The spot is well done. As a narrator who sounds, quite purposefully like franchise global ambassador Drake, talks of Toronto being “in a league of our own,” “one step removed,” “just beyond the boundaries” and so on, images flash of ice-covered Lake Ontario, the CN Tower, inner-city Toronto basketball courts that are “far from the East side, miles from the West side, nowhere near the South side ... we are the North side, a territory all our own. If that makes us outsiders, we’re in.” A husky even makes an appearance as a nod to the history around the Toronto Huskies name.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president/CEO Tim Leiweke said the spot was supposed to be revealed next year, as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, but he and Ujiri liked it too much.

Then the team started playing along, winning games with a rugged, never-quit approach that team brass felt jived with the promotion.

“Masai and I were in love with it because we believe it’s a perfect description and image and tribute to our team and their blue collar, hard work, proud of Toronto. We don’t care what anybody says about us in the States, we love being here,” Leiweke said.

“And ironically, all the stuff we heard last year on why we couldn’t succeed, our team has busted through all of those myths. This spot is essentially that exact same thing, which is we took all the things that everyone said and said that would make for a great campaign, wouldn’t it?

“It’s been years that people have been telling us all of the things that are in that spot and why that wouldn’t inspire anyone to be part of something special here. And lo and behold, look at it, now we’re celebrating all of those things. How ironic is that?”

About a month ago, when it was clear Toronto had a great shot at earning home-court advantage, with a chance, given the weakened state of the East, to make some noise in the playoffs and thus catch the attention of many new fans in this country, Leiweke sped up the process.

“We had to re-shoot everything because Masai and I were like: ‘Nope, not good enough, do it again.’

“We drove (the people at ad agency Sid Lee, who are also behind the eventual Raptors rebrand) crazy. It was very painful for the agency, but screw the 20th anniversary, no one cares. We’re celebrating 20 years where 18 of them, we sucked,” Leiweke said.

As always, timing is everything. MLSE sees an opening nationwide, and is aiming to pounce.

“Let’s also acknowledge what a brilliant moment for the Raptors to own all of Canada now,” he said.

“You’ve got one (Canadian) team in the NHL playoffs, so, obviously that is a huge moment of truth for us to win over people and inspire them ... I think people should follow this team because they’re going to fall in love with them.”

Leiweke said he sees the ‘We the North’ branding as more than just a one-time spot.

“It’s kind of a mission statement. I think we’ll go with this campaign for years.”

It will be played on the scoreboard before the playoff games and the team will see it for the first time Thursday.

“This is who we want to be, this is who we are. You’re going to see a lot of this,” Leiweke said.

“I’m excited for the players because I think they deserve it. I think they’ve been fantastic and set this whole environment and campaign up.”

He also threw a bone to the existing Raptors fans, saying they “deserve more consistency” on the television front after a year that saw co-owners Bell and Rogers battling over broadcast issues to the point that games bounced around a half-dozen channels, devastating the ratings.

“I think we’re going to have a much better platform for TV going forward,” he said.

Raptors unveil new ad campaign to turn around existing myths

Sick of the Raptors being mocked for being “different” than American teams, for not having “the good cable,” for bad weather, for living in igloos and for using different coloured money?

Well, so is the franchise. GM Masai Ujiri has constantly railed about the lack of validity in “all that B.S. that people say about Toronto.”

But, instead of dwelling on the negativity, the franchise has opted to embrace its unique position and identity.

To that end, a new campaign was unveiled Wednesday celebrating the Raptors as — to borrow a phrase from the wildly popular Game of Thrones TV series — ‘Kings in the North.’ Only with this campaign, Canada’s lone franchise is being celebrated as: ‘We The North.’